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Getting Khushi to love and live again, was going to be difficult, he thought, trying to make himself comfortable on the small bed, ---But he would win! He just knew it.
The dinner time had told him, how much she cared and remembered every small thing about him.
'Here,' she had dropped a big plate of hot noodles in front of him.
'Noodles? They still sell this brand of noodles in India? You still like and eat this stuff?' he asked raising an eyebrow.
'Unfortunately, yes. I eat it lots. What did you expect? Spaghetti?' she asked caustically while muttering under her breath 'Angrez kahin ka'.
Not wanting to miss a good opportunity to rile her, he said 'Hmm. Too much of noodles has not been good for you,' he said tongue in cheek.
'Why?' she asked coming back from her position next to the kitchen counter, her interest piqued.
'You have this permanently constipated expression on your face,' he said and laughed out loud at her indignation and he continued to chuckle as she walked away angrily.
All the laughing made him choke and he began to gasp.
Immediately she was next to him, hitting his back and his head, 'Here drink water,' she kept shoving the water under his nose.
Finally when he stopped, he had tears running from his eyes due to all the coughing. She hadn't stopped rubbing his back and his eyes with her apron, 'You haven't changed. You always talked too much while eating. It's bad for you. How many times I have told you not to do it?,' she scolded.
He held her hand then and said 'May be I forgot in seven years. I did not have you to watch out for me. Now I don't feel I am alone in the world.'
She did not move, but stood there, staring at him earnestly, as if to see if he meant it. Her hands trembled within his grasp, She had looked at him with a strange yearning and vulnerability, which made him want to hug her.
But in a jiffy that moment was lost. Her face suddenly became guarded and she gently pulled her hand away, 'You have managed fine Arnav. I have followed all news about you. You seemed to move on with life well,' she said and went back to putting the dishes away.
If only for a moment, he had seen that side of her-the one which wanted to be wanted, the Khushi who watched out for him.
It may be small, but the moment gave him hope. He had to keep getting to her. Do whatever it takes-irritate, seduce, sweet talk, adore, care---a whole lot of things.
But he had set his first task to get her out of her passive state and that needed a lot of annoying her.
So as soon he has hit the bed, he had called 'Khushiii.'
She had hovered outside the door, maintaining a decent distance, 'What?' she asked, sounding exasperated.
'Can you change these cheesy pink sheets and pillow cover. Makes me feel effeminate,' he said.
'It's only a night. Tomorrow, you will go right?' she asked, looking at him hopefully.
'Where is your hospitality Khushi? You should be telling me to stay on,' he said and then went on to add,' I am not going anywhere for 2 or 3 weeks. After 7 years of waiting, I need at least 3 weeks to get over you. Right?' he asked innocently.
'Right,' she said through clenched teeth, clearly at the end of her endurance.
'Now be a good girl and get me fresh sheets and pillow covers,' he ordered.
'Sleeping on a pink bed sheet and pink pillow cover won't make you a woman overnight. I will change it tomorrow' she said.
'Careful Khushi. Or I may end up fantasizing about how you looked on this bed wearing a satin nightgown or may be not even that---'he said giving her a seductive look.
She blushed furiously and turned and fled. When she got back, she threw a bed sheet and pillow cover on him from the door.
'Now sleep and pray to God before sleeping, to give you a clean mind,' she said and walked away.
He smiled behind her back, 'It only has unclean thoughts about you Khushi,' he whispered behind her back.
Was he on the right track? Annoying her and teasing her, was the first attempt to get her to react normally and act normally. But he knew her scars ran deep and he had a lot to do. But, first, he wanted her to be just human and not a robot, which she had become---
Closing the door and sitting on the bed, Khushi sat lost in thoughts for a long time.
She felt her heart beating fast. She touched it--- She still had one and it still beat as fast as it had all those years ago for the same man?
Unbelievable, but true!
And why did the house and the world suddenly seem filled with a new joy and color after all these years. Only because he was here?
And what if he left?
At least her gray, bleak life was permanent. It would never leave her. But the colors he brought to her life, would leave with him---
And what was he up to? Was he seriously trying to get over her or win over her?
Both scared her.
Having him in her life scared her and imagining him leaving her life terrified her.
Did she have a choice?
Confused, she prayed to God, 'Guide my footsteps. Don't test me again. I won't survive this time.'
She was suddenly woken up by a loud scream 'Nooo---Please nooo---'
Hazily she sat up wondering what was happening and then she remembered---
Arnav!
She raced to his room.
He was calling out in his sleep----
'Please ma. Don't leave me. Please Dad, stay with me. Please Khushi, don't go away. I am not that bad. Don't leave me alone,' he was muttering in his sleep.
'Shhh. It's Ok. I am here. Sleep. No one is going anywhere,' she whispered and ran her hand over his forehead, while gently holding his hand.
Automatically he became quiet and his breathing became even. Khushi looked at him with a thoughtful expression, filled with sadness.
So, it was not just she who was scarred? He had suffered too. Why hadn't she realized it?
What had he gone through in these seven years?
What had been the impact of their break up on him?
She had always believed it did not impact him.
For the first time she realized, it had deeply wounded him.
Like her, there was no stable relationship in his life.
So, how had he coped?
What kind of hell did he still live in, when he wasn't being ASR to the world?
And what about all those link ups? What did they mean?
Whatever they meant, she knew there was a deep void in his life...
Had she been selfish in not seeing his side of the story for so long?
Gently she unclasped his hand from hers, ran her hand over his forehead again, making sure he slept and left---
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